Around the World Craft: Paper Plate and Bowl Sombrero

This craft is harder for children to do, so, for the most part, I did the work and they decorated it. But it's hard, with two year olds, to do certain things, especially since the class ranges from 18 months to almost 3. So you can only set out crafts that all of the ages can do. But this one does turn out really cute and the kids will actually wear it.

The finished project, upside down so you can see the components.

 

 Here's the uncolored sombrero sitting atop the head of a teddy bear larger than the children.

 

What You'll Need:

• Paper plate, regular size (you can use styrofoam or paper, but I wouldn't try this with plastic)
• Paper bowl (I guess it would be considered regular size, but if you stack the bowl on top of the paper plate, it must fit the center and the rim of the plate must stick out around it)
• Hot glue gun (and liquid glue, if you want the kids to stick the pom-poms on)
• Pom-poms
• Foam stickers and/or regular stickers
• Watercolor and/or tempura paints and paintbrush
• Scissors 
• Markers

How to Make It:

1. Use the scissors to puncture a hole somewhere in the center of the paper plate. Cut the middle out of the paper plate so that you only have the outside ridge and the flat center is just a hole.
2. Leaving the paper plate rim facing the correct way a plate should (the edges should be pointing up and curve down to the center), hot glue the paper bowl face down to the rim (it should make a dome shape, not a dip shape). Allow to cool and dry.
3. When the hat is dry, hot glue pom-poms in even spaces around the rim of the hat. This can be done by the child if the hat is upside-down and they're using liquid glue, but it'll take longer to dry and the pieces are more likely to fall off. Allow the pom-poms to dry on before decorating.
4. Once all the other components are dry, you can decorate the hat with stickers, foam stickers, paints, and markers (though markers are difficult for children to use on the dome part of the hat).
5. If you use paints or glue anything else onto the hat, allow it to dry. Once it's dry, your child can wear it. Have a Mexican fiesta!

4th of July Craft: Patriotic Candle Holders

This is a really pretty craft that I love to do. It's simple, but always looks like stained glass, and like it took a lot of effort. You can modify it for anytime of the year and any decor, but we decided to do it with red, blue, and light blue to make it for the Fourth of July. All you need is a tea light candle or another candle that will fit, and it'll be really pretty.

This is one I made because the ones the kids made actually got knocked over and broke... Yes, it is a fragile craft because it is glass, so please, be careful with it!!

What You'll Need:

• Glass baby food jar without the lid (not the newer plastic ones, but the old fashioned ones). If you can't find an old baby food jar, you can probably do it with another kind of jar as long as the glass isn't too thick
• Tissue paper, cut into squares. For the patriotic theme, we used red, blue, and light blue that looks almost like white
• Glue
• Water
• Bowl (this is to hold the glue mixture so it can be any kind of container, really)
• Medium to small paintbrush (not one you use to paint your walls)
• Tray or newspaper to hold the craft

How to Make It:

1. Set out your tray or newspaper first because this craft will get a little bit messy.
2. Mix the glue and water in the container using the paintbrush. You'll probably need about twice to three times as much water as glue. The mixture needs to be very wet and drippy, more of a water consistency than a gluey consistency.
3. If you haven't already, cut small squares out of the red and blue and white (or whatever colors you chose) tissue paper. They should be about 1 square inch to 3 square inches because the jar is small. If you have a larger jar, you can use larger squares of tissue paper.
4. Paint the jar over with the glue mixture. It's going to get messy quickly. You can't hold it while painting it, or you'll get your hands covered, so go ahead and put it on the tray and allow the glue to spread over the entire outside of the jar. (Depending on your child's age, he or she can do this step.)
5. Now your child can press the squares of tissue paper onto the wet glue-covered jar. They should cover the entire jar, and can overlap the pieces for more vivid colors.
6. Paint over the pieces of tissue paper with the glue mixture very gently. If you put too much on one piece, move the brush too fast, or press too hard, you might rip the papers, so be careful. Make sure to cover all of the papers on the jar with the glue mixture. You'll see it start to resemble stained glass.
7. Let the candle holder dry for a while, being careful not to touch it or knock it over. Once it dries, you can use it.

 With the tea light candle inside, top view. It's on a tray on a table. But that's the finished project. I love it :)